Exemplary embodiments relate to thermal management, and more specifically, to thermal management of chips during testing.
Thermal management of microprocessors during the class testing plays a particular role in reducing cost while increasing yield and performance. As the performance of an integrated circuit (IC) is highly dependent on the temperature of the device, it is important to control the device temperature, commonly referred to as the junction temperature during device class testing because this is the step where device performance is gauged at the component level. Research has shown that any increase in temperature during this test step may reduce the speed of the device (e.g., its clock speed) by as much as 0.15% per degree Celsius and decrease the yield of the fastest processors. The final test also determines general characteristics, such as whether a device is defective or meets minimum functional performance specification. The issue in class testing is to maintain temperature around a set point even as device power changes. Thermal management is required for functional verification of the integrated circuit, e.g., microprocessor across its complete temperature application specification. Thermal management is also required to maintain mechanical alignment with all coupling techniques.